Who decided what words mean....?

Question

and what words did they use to decide what those words meant??

justagirl, who decided what latin words meant what and what words did they use to decide too?

oliviaxxx, wow, i read that as if i where reading normal text, i understood every word and it didn't take any longer!! Good answer ;-)

riser23 were you born a pr**k or did you haave to study.

Answer 1

Languages evolve. The first sounds a baby makes are "mamama" or "dadada" , so they are practical to name mum and dad. The more complex a society, the more sound combinations are needed to differentiate between things.
Convention is the idea that made us understand each other. Pointing at a thing and making a sound and getting others to use the same sound for the same object will allow for primitive communication. As societies evolve language becomes more complex and words(sounds) change their meaning according to changing conditions.

Answer 2

With the exception of a few technical terms and deliberate coinages (for example, RAM in computerese), no one -- or I should say, no one person -- decides what words mean. If we go back to the formation of a language, words appear and are either accepted or rejected by the speakers of that language. Aside from ad campaigns where professional copywriters sometimes set out to create a new word, where they appear from is an unknown ("quiz" in its modern sense popped into English in the mid-19th century). But whether a word (?) like "bro" catches on is entirely in the hands -- or the mouths -- of the people. Why do the British refer to jerks as "wankers" and yet the word is all but unknown in this country? All of us together (and none of us alone) make that decision.

Answer 3

Well as you asked about words ........can you read this?
Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.i cdlount blveiee taht i cluod
aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht i was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid,aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabridge Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtater in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the only iproamtmt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rhgit palce. .the rset can be a tloatl mses and you can sitll raed it.Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.Azanmig huh?Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt !!

Answer 4

We determine the meaning of a word by looking at how it is used by the speakers of the language. Dictionaries record how words are used, they do not decide whether a certain word is "real" or not.

Answer 5

Hispanophile's got a point. Interestingly enough, one of the big dictionary's (I think it was Oxford's) was sent word and word meanings from one particular person in the mail. It wasn't until after they published them that they discovered he was residing in an insane asyllum!

And 'Jeff' needs to get back to reality.

Answer 6

great question: Believe it or not, all words begin as slang and are eventually accepted as real words over time. It is basically the same people that publish the dictionary that decide what words will become acceptable words. They have huge ego's.

Answer 7

Julius Caesar

Answer 8

Well in my view, that person who allegedly 'decided what words mean' sure is some brainy *******.
I mean it really takes guts and brain to actually be the 'one person' who decides what words will mean from that moment on forth in to the future, generation after generation.
Well if you do get to meet that guy I gotta meet him too! if you do please email me at>
[e-mail]
thank you and good night

Answer 9

When God put Adam and Eve on earth, they already knew how to speak (it wasn't English). Then, at the Tower of Babel, that's where we got our many languages.

Answer 10

Al Fabbet